|Debra Smith|
Digging into a large pile of composting leaves in our back yard, Chelsea Eaton unearthed three strange looking creatures with faces resembling multi-pronged star fish, and thick claws on web-like feet. Michelle Melaragno, working with her, recognized right away what she had found: baby star nosed moles. There was no mother in sight, so Chelsea and Michelle scooped them up and took them to Misfits Rehab in Auburn, where they will be raised to maturity and released.
See a video of these little critters on Misfits Rehab’s Facebook page.
Star nosed moles live their two-three year lifespans underground. While their range is from southern Canada to the southeast of the US, they are rarely seen. They spend their lives devouring insects, worms and grubs. They’re also good swimmers and eat fish or crustaceans underwater.
To survive in that dark environment, the poor-sighted mole relies on the 22 fleshy appendages, called rays, that form the star surrounding its snout. Armed with 100,000 nerve endings crammed into an area roughly the size of a human fingertip, the rays are unique to this species and give it the most sensitive touch organs in the animal kingdom. (By comparison, an entire human hand has about 17,000 nerve endings.).
Read more about star nosed moles.
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